Waiting on Embassy........

I apologize for not updating my blog! We have be soooo busy lately........ I am going to try updating you now. 

After court when we went home and waited.....it was the hardest part of this whole journey. I had to really trust that God's timing was perfect. 
Each week was getting harder. I finally emailed our director and asked him if he felt we were going to be submitted on Monday (Tues 22) and he told us that we were still needing a medical file. I was DEVASTATED!! I wanted our case be submitted so badly. That morning, another family's case was submitted. I was so happy for them!!! However, I felt a little bummed because I really wanted our file to be submitted. Moments later, I received the email saying that our case was "deposited"!!!! I was so happy!!!! I could have exploded. 

 On Jan 28, 2013, I received another email saying .....
We would like to inform you the consular section completed screening for your Form I-600 petition.  We will now begin the review of orphan status for the I-604, Determination on Child for Adoption.  As part of this process, we may request additional information or documents as it becomes necessary throughout the I-604 process.  You will receive notice when processing is complete.

Once again, I felt so much happiness because we were getting so much closer to bring our precious baby home!!!

On  Jan 30th, we received this email......

Good morning  Adoption Avenues Agency

Please find the below requested documents.

1.     Family, Child name: -

     Case number: -  

- The finger print has expired on May 31,2012. Needs amendment.

-   Please bring the copy of this e-mail when you come to the Embassy to bring the additional documents. And when communicating with this office, please provide agency name, child’s full name and case number exactly as shown in this e-mail.

Make sure parents don’t make any travel plans unless you hear from us that it is cleared for interview.

Regards

This email made my stomach hurt because we had our fingerprints done on May 31,2012!!!! It was an error on their part. That day, my husband called a few people to get this corrected. Finally, they were able to send an email to the Embassy clarifying that it was an error and that our fingerprints do not expire until August 2013! 

My husband and I continued to pray that God would clear our case quickly. The embassy also requested an interview with the birth mother.  We were very fearful that they would not clear our case because they could not locate the birth mother.

 On Feb. 1st (Friday), I woke up around 3:30am. I quickly checked my email ( I checked my email ALL THE TIME). Ethiopia is 8 hours a head of us so I knew I could possibly have an email.I was obsessed with checking my email after midnight. Throughout the week, I would stay up past midnight just so I could check my email.  When I pulled my email up there it was......an email saying CLEARED!!!!! I quickly jumped up and woke my husband up. He was so tired and had no idea what was going on. I kept yelling....LOOK! LOOK!, LOOK! (while putting my phone in his face)! When he finally realized what the email was saying, he jumped up and said, "WE CLEARED!?!?!?!" It was the most exciting moment. All the waiting and worrying was OVER. We FINALLY get to bring our beautiful little girl home. Even though I was ready to jump on a plane that weekend, I needed to prepare before we left so we decided to schedule our Embassy appointment for Feb. 11th and we would leave on Feb. 8th. I remember feeling so excited. I couldn't believe that I was about to bring my daughter home FOREVER!!!!  My children were extremely excited.